


A New Love for Harry

by Slumber



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Harry Potter Epilogue Compliant, Past Harry/Ginny - Freeform, Post-Hogwarts, Pre-Relationship, post-epilogue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-10-30
Updated: 2011-10-30
Packaged: 2021-03-06 17:14:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26392474
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slumber/pseuds/Slumber
Summary: As one relationship ends, another one blossoms.
Relationships: Luna Lovegood/Harry Potter
Collections: 30-minute Writer's Block Challenge





	A New Love for Harry

"And remember to write always, you hear?" Ginny is telling Lily, their youngest. Her arms are around her little daughter's shoulders, hugging her as though she never wants to let go (and maybe she doesn't) while Harry stands behind them both, paternal and trying hard to choke back a sob.

"I'll miss you," he tells Lily once Ginny lets go. He hugs her back, just as fiercely if not more. "Remember to write, okay, Lils? Weekly, if you can't manage an owl a day for your old man?"

" _Dad_." Lily's voice is exasperated, strained, perhaps a smidge embarrassed. Harry does not miss the way she's reluctantly returning his hug, worriedly looking around them to see who else is witnessing her parents' atrocious display of affection. "It's not like you'll never see me again!"

And it's true. She'll be back for holidays and summer and this isn't the last time Harry won't see his daughter. It isn't like it's the first time he has to let go, either--James and Albus had much drier goodbyes.

"Sorry," he says, smiling at her. "It's just--"

"You're growing so fast," Ginny says behind him. 

"Take care, alright?" he tells her, and after one more hug and kiss, she boards the train, looking back one more time at her parents before Hogwarts Express is on its way.

Harry and Ginny stand on the platform in silence, long after the train has departed. They are two of the last few parents still standing there, and it is Ginny who speaks first.

"So we'll make the announcement when they all return for the winter holidays, but you'll still spend it at The Burrow?"

Harry nods. "Doesn't make much sense to make it that much more traumatic for any of them, and anyway, Ron--"

"--is still your friend, I know." Ginny smiles , but there is little affection left there. "I suppose you'll want to get your things from home now?"

"Actually, Gin, if it's all the same to you, can I take them this weekend?" Harry hesitates. "I just--"

"It's fine, Harry," she tells him. "Just owl ahead to let me know."

"You'll forward the kids' owls?"

"Of course. You'll be at Ron and Hermione's, won't you?"

"Until I find a place to stay, yeah. Then I'll let you know."

"Alright."

Ginny turns to leave, but Harry doesn't follow her.

*

"Oh, was it at noon? But it _is_ noon, isn't it?"

"Mum, are you still on Swedish time?"

"Oh dear, oh dear, did we miss the train then?"

"We can't get into Platform 9 3/4 now."

"That's a bit problematic."

"Mum, what do we do?"

Harry thinks one of the voices sounds familiar, and when he rounds the corner after leaving the platform, he realizes why. He'd recognize the long blonde hair anywhere. "Luna?"

She turns to look up at him, blinking owlish-wide eyes at him before: "Harry! Harry Potter, how _are_ you?"

"I'm good, and you? I haven't seen you in a while!" He doesn't even realize she'd gotten married (the thought of Luna marrying somehow surprises him; he doesn't think she's the sort) until now, but there she is, with two young boys who look exactly alike, and exactly like their mother. "I think I missed a couple of birthdays here."

"Oh, yes. Harry, these are my sons, Lorcan and Lysander. Boys, this is Harry Potter."

Both Lorcan and Lysander are looking at him with wide blue eyes like Luna's, but they aren't gaping the way most people do. "You were a horcrux," one of them points out.

"Can you fly us to Hogwarts?" the other wants to know. "Mum, didn't he do that once, when he was late for the train?

Harry laughs as he turns to Luna. "What stories have you been telling them?"

"Just the best ones," she tells him with a smile.

"Were you headed to Hogwarts?" he asks.

"Were," she admits. "I'm afraid I messed up the times--we were in Sweden, you see, and the hours are ahead, but I thought perhaps I'd already subtracted the time, so I added some more, only as it turns out..." She shrugs. "You _don't_ happen to have a flying car lying around, do you? I'd hate for Lorcan and Lysander to miss their Sorting."

Harry shook his head. "Sorry, Luna," he said. "But I think I can find us a way to get there?"

*

Being Head Auror has its own perks, and Luna finds out what it is when Harry leads them into the Ministry offices and signals them over into the Floo behind his office.

"It leads straight to Hogsmeade," he explains when the family look at him curiously. "I figure that's the fastest way to get us there without being seen?"

"Ah, yes, of course," Luna says with a smile. "Thank you, Harry."

"It's no worry," he says. "Usually I never have to use it but just in case, it's useful to have. It goes straight to The Hog's Head."

Luna's expression shifts, just the smallest bit, and Harry shares a look with her. "Did your mother ever tell you anything about Aberforth Dumbledore and The Hog's Head?" he asks her boys.

"She told us _loads_ of stories," Lorcan says.

Harry takes the Floo powder from the top of his mantel. "Do you want me to go first, and then you can go after your sons?"

"That sounds like a plan," she says, so Harry steps inside the grate and yells "The Hog's Head!" as clear as he can.

Lysander comes in first--he doesn't know how he manages to distinguish them from each other so fast, but Lysander is the more quiet son, he thinks--followed by Lorcan. There is a minute's wait between them, and then they wait for close to five minutes before Luna shows up.

"Sorry," she says right away. "There was a bit of a nargle problem in there that I had to take care of before leaving. Least I could do for your helping us get to Hogwarts, Harry."

"Ah, don't worry about it," he says. "But thank you."

"Where's Hogwarts?" Lorcan asks.

"We're only in Hogsmeade," his brother tells him. "Hogwarts is still a walk away."

"It's over here," Harry says, leading them to the well-worn path from the small village of Hogsmeade all the way to Hogwarts.

"Do you think we're too late for the Sorting?" Luna asks, falling into step beside Harry while her children run up ahead.

"I don't think the train's anywhere near yet, to be honest." Harry glances at her. "When did you get married?"

Luna flushes. "I didn't," she admits. "I met Rolf at a Magical Creatures convention a few years after I left Hogwarts. He was a dear friend and an excellent lover, but neither of us thought marriage was ever in the cards."

"Oh," Harry says. "Sorry, I didn't mean to--"

"It's not all that personal, Harry," she tells him. "The boys were visiting him in Sweden and I'd been there looking for Crumple-Horned Snorkacks."

Harry nods.

"And you?" she asks. 

"Ahh, it's a bit complicated." Harry gives her a rueful grin. "Ginny and I-- it's a bit difficult when you realize there are some things you thought you were, and you thought you weren't, before you've grown up and known for sure, you know?"

"Of course."

"We haven't told the kids yet," he admits. "We wanted to wait until they were all in Hogwarts."

"And now they are?"

"First day of the rest of their lives, and the rest of ours as well," he says. 

"You must be terrified."

Harry laughs. "You have no idea."

By the time they reach Hogwarts it is almost as though Luna had never gone. Harry has fallen into an easy conversation with her, as he'd always had even when they were both still students. Professor McGonagall is by the gates ready to meet them when they arrive--Aberforth had owled to warn her, it turns out--thanking Harry for having more sense this time around and not bringing a flying car with him. 

"I am so sorry, Headmistress," Luna apologizes. "Next time I'll take more care to take note of the time."

"It is quite alright, Ms Lovegood," Professor McGonagall tells her, and after Luna hugs and kisses both her boys goodbye, and they disappear behind Hogwarts' gates, she turns to Harry.

"I don't have any other plans for the rest of the day. Do you?"

He shakes his head. "Do you want to go back to Hogsmeade and catch up over drinks or something?"

"Not Puddifoot's, I hope?"

Harry laughs. "Hell no. The Three Broomsticks?"

Luna grins and agrees, and together they walk all the way back.

**Author's Note:**

> Please consider donating to local organizations who support trans individuals in your area.


End file.
